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Politics of trade hurt job creation

The author writes that the president needs to submit pending agreements to Congress. |
Jay Westcott/POLITICO
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Now, the administration is striking another blow to job creation by allowing these trade agreements to languish on the president’s desk.

It is disingenuous for Obama to talk about his commitment to job creation when his inaction here has led to U.S. businesses losing market share in countries like Colombia. For example, the U.S. share of the Colombian market for corn, wheat and soybeans plunged from 78 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2010.

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Meanwhile, Colombia is deepening ties with China. In fact, a recent study found that China is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest trader by 2015. If our country doesn’t keep its competitive edge globally, it will put more U.S. jobs in jeopardy.

But there is no question we can avoid that future since trade can have a dramatic positive effect on an economy. The European Union’s trade agreement with South Korea, for example, resulted in a 16 percent increase in exports in the first month.

The simple fact is that Obama has put politics before job creation and America is missing out on opportunities for economic growth. To get the economy going again, we need to make a commitment to advance policies that promote increased trade.

These trade agreements are the just the first step. House Republicans look forward to working with the president on real transformative job creation initiatives.

America’s job creators, in every industry, are the most imaginative and hardworking business owners in the world. Their commitment to innovation and success is what drives our economic engine — and what has long made the U.S. free-market system the envy of the world.

Rather than limit the opportunities available to our entrepreneurs, we should ensure that they have the chance to market their products and be competitive around the world. Implementing these trade agreements is an important part of a multiprong approach to getting our country’s economy back on track.

I encourage the president to turn his rhetoric on jobs into action and send Congress the trade agreements, free of extraneous political additions demanded by special interests, as he has previously promised.

Free trade? There is NO such thing! Cong. McCarthy is lying in his speech and in his piece here that free trade agreements create jobs here in the U.S. NO they do not! They create jobs overseas, largely in COMMUNIST CHINA that McCarthy and his Republicans seem to JUST love nowadays!

There WAS a time when Republicans put "AMERICA FIRST." Today, Republicans put WALL STREET and COMMUNIST CHINA FIRST against this nation which is tantamount to ECONOMIC TREASON that Mr. McCarthy and his party are advocating.

One needs to ask Mr. McCarthy, "How much is enough?" How many MORE Americans must be thrown from work; and into the streets, before men like McCarthy and his party undestand that he and his party are creating a violent REVOLUTION against him and his party by American citizens?

Yours truly served as a director for 3 of the 4 national GOP organizations and QUIT the GOP in 1984 precisely because the GOP and their leader, the Gipper, sold out this nation to Wall Street and to the WTO bunch. America is no longer that "shining city on a hill," as Reagan lied. It has become the tenement next door with rats and vermin of all kinds in 3-piece suits with tax deductible Gulfstream jets bleeding Americans dry while McCarthy becomes just the next "toadie" Congressman to sell out America.

Congressmen today are considered CRIMINALS by the American people. Mr. McCarthy just demonstrated why our citizens hold that opinion.

If you believe that free trade with Panama and Columbia is going to create a substantial percentage of the 250,000 jobs from these proposed agreements then I have some seaside property in Arizona for you, if it isn't underwater. They don't have economies large enough to create enough jobs to sustain that many American families at our standard of living.

I agree with the Representative especially on Trade. But I would say two things for the President. First, the Health Care act WILL inject more market principle and a bit of cost containment into the health care industry. Second, saving the banks and reducing military over-commitment are major accomplishments.

And trade MIGHT be one area where Obama and his core supporters may change their minds and support another sensible idea.

It is instuctive that super intelligent Obama criticized house Republicans for blocking passage of these trade agreements which he claimed would create many jobs when in fact he had not forwarded the agreements to the Congress. He chastized Congress for blocking job formation but never acknowledged his responsibility. He spoke of the urgency of congressional action but has still not sent the agreements to the legislature for consideration. Can you spell HYPOCRITE.

O'Bozo is going to go before the country on Thursday to recommend throwing $300 billion more down the rathole he's already pitched almost a TRILLION dollars into---ready to blame the GOP, GWB, and the tsunami & earthquakes plus global warming if he fails to get it through.

McCarthy is right, and the Obungler should make the trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia & Panama front & center in his speech. But he won't. The teleprompter won't let him, or the trade unions won't, since most of the new jobs created will be outside their already-weakened membership.

Most of the "shovel-ready" jobs that didn't exist were earmarked for union-only projects------the Obamandias doctrine to ruin our country has union-control of the economy as one of the Greek columns surrounding his monument to futility.....!!!!

This article is all what-if's, "its designed to bla, bla, bla" In practice, NONE of Owe-bamas plans create jobs because he is a Marxist. He knows how to destroy but not create. His track record is proof.

It's amazing to see Republicans continually attempt to dismantle the American economy in order to make a quick buck for their corporate buddies. Sending jobs overseas, even low paying jobs, is a disaster for America. We've seen it happening since the Reagan presidency and the effect has been chilling on the middle class. Republicans and tea partiers are so consumed with hatred that they cant see beyond it to what is in their own best interest.

Does anybody think that Republicans are serious about job creation? They have proposed nothing and the latest plague of baggies, elected by just 25-28% of the 43% of eligible voters that bothered to show up during the mid-term election (hardly a mandate), have done what Republicans always done once in office--they abuse their power to attack social programs they do not like, cut funding and jobs, rather than creating them.

They become suddenly "born-again deficit hawks" when out of the White House having spent wildly on two, unfunded wars; a $1 trillion prescription drug entitlement; massive growth in military industrial congressional complex jobs; and huge "bridge to nowhere" GOP pork projects. They doubled the military budget (more than all other countries combined) while doubling the National Debt. It should be remembered that the GOP created the bulk of the National Debt under just three presidents: Reagan GHW Bush and GW Bush. They also created the fewest jobs with more jobs being created under Clinton (23 million) that Reagan, Bush I and Bush, the lesser, combined and at higher tax rates. GW Bush not only created few jobs--a net zero growth when factoring in the 600,000 jobs lost monthly in the last half of 2008 and into the first three months of 2009, while losing five million manufacturing jobs.

The anti-union, anti-worker bias of the Republicans, who have historically NEVER represented the working class, is an example of real class warfare on the working class going on also at the state level nationally. The nation-wise Republican voter suppression efforts are also directed at the working class, minorities, the poor, and elderly. The Republican opposition to the trade agreements with Panama, Columbia, and South Korea are being held up because the Republicans do not want to provide financial asistance for retraining to assist those workers whose jobs are shipped overseas or to Latin America (which they surely will).

Any working class American voting for Republicans hurt themselves, their families, and the rest of us as 80% of income increases over the last 20 years went to the top one percent. Under the GOP, the rich have gotten filthy rich (400 billionaires, average salary of the Fortune 500 CEOs is $10.6 million or more than 400 times the average worker). Miss out on the government gravy train or lagesse to the rich? You are not alone.

Regarding the 74,000 FAA jobs and 200 companies held up by Republicans (temporarily lifted after being shamed by the Democrats while Congress enjoyed a month-long vacation), the Republicans want to make it harder for unions to organize. In fact, during union elections, Republicans want to count non-attendance and non-votes as "no" votes, both unethical and dishonest. Remember, unions in the private sector only make up eight percent of the workforce so the notion that unions are dominating decisions regarding labor and hiring is false.

Republicans love to scream "class warfare" whenever there is talk of making the rich pay their fair share, raising taxes on the rich (at their lowest since 1950s). Veterans know that "warfare" means suffering and hardship. the rich do not suffer when taxes are raised (they do not pay the top 35% rate anyway). They do not miss meals, go without medication, or lose their homes.

The GOP's anti-union warfare is anti-working class going on at the state level and nationally. Remember, the GOP did not want to bailout the auto industry which is one of America's most vital and innovative manufacturing sectors (which saved America during WWII) and could have cost 1.5 million auto industry jobs and five times that many in auto industry-dependent jobs.

As a union member having served with two unions in both the private and public sectors and served as a contract negotiator for The Wire Service Guild (The Newspaper Guild) and AFSCME (AFL-CIO), the amount of lying GOPropaganda about unions is amazing. First, nobody was forced to join either union or even to contibute to dues despite the fact that they benefitted from union representation and negotiated benefits. Second, dues rates are not outrageous. Under my current union, AFSCME, union dues are around $450 per year and well worth the worker input that has reduced layoffs and massive benefit cuts. Lastly, having lost my job more than once for exposing corruption on the job, I have managed to keep my job under the unions just as I was protected while serving in the military.

Without unions or private negotiated contracts (like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, et al), workers are "at will" which puts workers completely at the mercy of corporations who can fire workers at will without cause, particularly if they expose company wrongdoing.

Remember, the employment benefits that workers take for granted were brought forward by progressive, Democrats, and unionists who suffered and died for worker rights. The Labor Day holiday signed by Grover Cleveland was to honor the Pullman (trains) union workers killed during demonstrations in Chicago by the military and US Marshalls. The so-called "social safety net" including Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid were also brought forth by unionists, progressives, and Democrats. Republicans have opposed these programs and tried to kill them outright or to profit from them via privatization despite the fact that Republicans are the biggest healthcare profiteers. Their epitaph should read, "I want more!"

These Free Trade Agreements have brought our middle class to the brink of extinction. Jobs have left this country ever since the first trade agreement was sought by Ronald Reagan. We need Fair Trade, not Free Trade. We tie the hands of our businesses behind their backs, then ask them to compete against countries that do not place the same costly societal safeguards on their companies that we do. We need to tariff products from nations that do not currently have these societal protections in place. If they are so good for us, these safeguards will surely help other countries, and in the meantime, tariffs will equalize the trading field for our businesses and workers. We need a political party, we need political candidates, that will fight for bringing back good-paying jobs to this nation. We do not need legislators who are bought by the international corporations to do their bidding, and who do not have the best interests of this nation at heart.